Today we discuss a NY Times experiment where they asked folks to view a piece of artwork for 10 minutes... This prompted the question, has social medial dumbed us down?
I tried that from Cole's newsletter and could not make 3 min. I don't even look at my images in post processing for more than 5-6 min. while working on them. I do come back later to finish post processing my images. Don't know about being "dumbed down" but just have image overload. FYI, still subscribe to newspapers, read real books and not real active on social media.
50 years ago I was in Washington DC and I saw a painting Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. I loved this painting. 25 years later it was on display at the Denver Art Museum.I would go spend a few minutes in front of this painting and go off looking at other work then come back for a few minutes then go off. The next weekend I would do the same I never spent more than a few minutes at a time. I never looked to see how I felt I was only interested in the painting. I am a foolish old man but NO ONE ls going to tell me how to look at art.
I’m not watching serious art on insta nor Facebook. I do have FB, but i prefer websites of the artists. Or even better: books. I just finished one myself on my photography. There are also exhibitions. I also dont think we need to overthink or overanalyze a piece of work. 10 min is very Long time. Few min it’s just fine for me and it works, if the work makes me think or inspired. But i do also think the art is dumbed down by internet and social media and how we view things.
Great topic; a feast for thought. You know, now that you mention it, I’ll have to leaf through some shots (of photographers far better than I), to see how long one can hold me… As for Bowie and the internet, he may well have been right (he usually was!), but there might be more to it. When Cole mentioned he sometimes will pause for 30 seconds on a “banger”, it sort of hit me that part of this internet attention span conundrum is the number of “bangers” available to us every minute of every day. Are we dumbed down, or overloaded? Perhaps both. Yet even still, I find that on a large enough screen (because that’s our medium these days; our access point) I find that I have no problem spending ten or more minutes on a Caravaggio for his mastery of light and the emergence from shadow, or Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hieronymus Bosch for the sheer complexity (and in one Bosch case, butt-music) of their vast apocalyptic frescoes. But photos, I shall have to challenge myself this afternoon. In speaking of the Masters (painters of yore), I have an appropriate quote for this topic: “Art lives from constraints, and dies in freedom.” - Leonardo Da Vinci And as addendum, one final metaphor (to go along with John’s notion of ‘irreverence’ in modernity) is the Rick Beato theory that part of thrill of the music of our youths (we old codgers, at any rate) was that magic in the inconvenience. There was once a time we had to travel to the store, however near or far, buy that album, bring it home like a hunter in triumph, set aside 45 minutes to put the vinyl on the turntable and either annoy the neighbours or put the headphones on (not earbuds; cans - the old, honking cover-the-ear variety) and read the album liner notes while we savoured that first real listen-through. It was a sacrament, in it’s way. A little like love in all it's kinds - the easier it is, the less it’s worth.
I open up Instagram on my laptop and expand the size of the photographs. It helps. But I also turn more nowadays to photobooks, at least the ones I can afford.
Cole is Dumbed down!! I agree completely, the internet has been a detriment to society in many ways. Art is certainly part of that. I’ve always said a photograph is never fully realized until it’s printed. Social media is one of the reasons I say this because we see it for 3 seconds!! Prints or books almost demand more… Sure, if it was a Cole print it would still only get 3 seconds or so but for the rest…. Prints just mean more because it is physically real. “I’m one of the best viewers!!! I had forgotten about the PDF, now I must produce something!
Great talk John, Cole. Many things come to mind on this topic, social media overload and it’s mental health effects, so many redundant ‘ish images, etc, but what jumps out for me is size constraints when attempting to view an interesting image on a 6” frame of glass and pixels. I just don’t have the same feeling(s), emotions as compared to observing as a print. Although to my surprise, I tested this by enjoying a friend’s image displayed on my monitor (32”). Mind you, this was an image of her’s that I was familiar with but when viewing it full screen it stopped me and I found myself immersed in the details and storytelling allure that I had not discovered before in this image. I had realized these special moments have become far and few, but why? I had a wonderful experience enjoying this art, why don’t I do this anymore? Well, I’ve been “dumbed-down” like most of us have. From following voice prompts for your next turn while driving, to being spoon-fed images that are at the most, snack-able content while on the go. Arrgghh… is there any escape? Anyway, gotta go. I have some large prints to enjoy in a quiet room! But not without first dropping my phone in a Faraday cage.
I agree on the "view it large" motif. Much easier to fall into a work if it's large enough, and you're close enough, you can mistake it for the horizon it truly is.
